Updates from 7/17/08 to 7/26/08

Entrance to Trent Severn Waterway at Trenton, ON
The Twoonie in Campbellford, ON
Peterborough Lift Lock
Peterborough Lift Lock in Action
View from back upper deck of the boat as we are lifted


7/23/08 Bobcaygeon, ON In Bobcaygeon, it appears that the main spectator sport is watching boaters transit the lock! There were plenty of people beside the lock to observe as we came in and tied up, which we did without a problem. The houseboat which came in behind us was a different story: there were several people on it, but no one had a plan for tying to the lock wall and the boat went sideways. The lockmaster instructed them what to do and they finally straightened themselves out.
7/22/08 Young’s Point, ON This morning we had a very different lock experience at the Peterborough Lift Lock, one of a handful of this type in the world. Boaters drive their boats into a giant pan filled with water (Warning: this is not a scientific explanation!). The pan is lifted 65 ft. to the next level in just a couple minutes. As one pan is lifted, a second pan containing one foot more of water comes downward. Hydraulic cylinders filled with water under each pan are connected by piping and valves control the speed of travel. The ride was very smooth and the lockmaster assured us that it has been in operation 103 years and is tested daily.
7/21/08 Peterborough, ON We crossed Rice Lake today and saw dozens of vacation cottages along the shore, most with a small boat dock. This is the height of vacation season, so there are lots of boats zipping around. When we see someone fishing, we try to slow down, so that our wake doesn’t rock them too much. Pontoon boats and houseboats seem to be quite popular and we’ve noticed that quite a number of houseboats are rental units. Those bear watching, as you don’t know if there’s an experienced operator at the helm, or someone who just completed his 10 minutes of instruction at the rental agency.
7/20/08 Hastings, ON It rained all day, a steady drizzle, with an occasional downpour. By the time we went through 6 locks, we were looking for any reason to stop for the day, as were other Loopers we found. Any time there are 2 or more Looper boats, there’s an impromptu get-together, and the one tonight included the crews of Grace Full, Moon River, Etcetera, and us. Grace Full, a new acquaintance, hosted. They also started from Baltimore a couple weeks after we did.
7/19/08 Campbellford, ON Campbellford has a municipal park where boaters can tie up overnight for a fee (includes electric). It was a pleasant stop and residents who were out walking stopped and talked to us. Bob found a Tim Horton’s (Canadian chain of coffee shops), which he is becoming a fan of. Other Loopers had passed the word that this would be the place to buy diesel fuel cheap! The price was $1.39 a liter, and we got 340 liters (about 76 gal.). We like to top off our fuel tanks every 2-3 weeks. Our 2 tanks hold a total of 220 gallons.
7/18/08 Frankford, ON Tonight there are 4 Looper boats tied up at the wall after the Frankford lock. We have no hookups to electricity or water, but there is no fee, since we have season passes for locking and docking.
7/17/08 Trenton, ON Getting to Trenton was a short trip-just 2 hours. It is the starting point for the 240 mile Trent Severn Waterway, so we got groceries and some boat parts and think we are prepared for the next leg of this trip.

Info of Interest

You can find info on the Peterborough Lift Lock at the following link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterborough_Lift_Lock

From Hastings to Peterborough, Ont.

Today we transisited 1 lock as we continued up the Trent-Severn River System. Tomorrow we will be going through the Highest Lift Lock in the World. We will be lifted 65 ft. in a pan of water in 2 mins. There is a museum here as well and we will go through that as well. We are really excited about this Lock. The next blog will include pictures. The weather was cool today and finally around noon it rained for about 1 hour, Some areas had thunder and lightning and very heavy downpours. It was nice to have a windshield and sidecurtains to keep us dry. This evening it has been clear and very pleasant.

Campbellford to Hastings, ON

Despite rain, we traveled all morning. By the time we had passed through our sixth lock, we were ready for a break and tied up at a town wall. Another Looper boat was already there and later an additional one joined us. All of us were invited for cocktails by a Looper who spotted us from a marina across the river. We enjoyed swapping information and adventure stories.

update as of 7/19/08

Lois with big money

Twoony
Tour Boat in Lock next to us for the night
Retired Coast Guard Buoy Tender at Kingston Marine Museum
7/19/08 We traveled to Campbellford, Ont. today. We stopped at a suspension foot bridge that had been constructed by a military unit over a gorge at a power plant. We saw an otter in the river this evening. Lois did laundry this afternoon. It is very warm and humid, so we decided to stay at the town park and we have electric, which means we are cool and comfortable. We are parked next to a statute of the twoony which is the 2 dollar coin. The artist that came up with the bear on the coin is from this town. As you can see Lois likes to be around big money.

7/17/08 Today was a short trip of two hours to get to Trenton, ON, where the 240 mile Trent-Severn Waterway begins. To prepare for this leg of our trip, we grocery shopped, got some boat parts, and studied the travel info and nautical charts. This waterway has historical significance, and its 40+ locks are maintained and run by Parks Canada.
7/18/08 Frankford, ON. Although we did not cover many miles today, we transited 6 locks. Each lock is an exercise in co-ordination of effort for both people on a boat. For Loopers like us, the vessel is usually 30-45 ft. long and has a crew of two, husband and wife. The lock rules require one person to handle a line on the bow (front) and one to handle a line at the stern (back). The way Bob and I do it is for him to drive the boat into the lock, while I stand on the bow to grab one of the cables hanging down from the top of the lock wall and put a line (rope) around it. As soon as I do that and the stern swings close to the side wall of the lock, Bob shuts off the engine and goes to the stern to put another line on a cable. We hang on to the lines, the doors of the lock close behind us, and the water rises, sometimes slowly and calmly, other times in a more turbulent manner. When the water has risen to the level of the next pool of water, the front doors of the lock open, we remove our lines from the cables on the lock wall, and away we go. Today we were traveling with two other Looper boats and the three of us locked through together. We had a large tour boat spend the night at the lock with us. We are glad we did not meet them on the water. Some places are very narrow.

Updates from 6/27 to 7/16/08

Going There is Smiths Falls
Lois in Smiths Falls
Check this out

Ottawa locks (8) from the bottom
Going There as seen from Parliment Clock Tower
Changing of the Gruard
Parliment during the light show
Locks from the top

Canadian Customs

We left Rouse’s Point, NY on 6/27/08 and headed for the border. We are cleared for 3 months in Canada as of now. The officer was very friendly as always. We stopped at Fort Lennox and toured the buildings, including a moat. The buildings are completely rebuilt. Very interesting. We continued on to Saint Jean on the Richelieu River and stayed just south of the Locks. We walked up and purchased the pass for the locks and a mooring pass as well.




On 6/28/08 we proceeded through the locks, all nine of them. We had traveled 8 kn m. in 3 hrs and went through 9 locks, we were tired and stopped for the night at the town of Chambly. We cleaned up and went out to eat. We deserved it after this very tiring day. We had two instances where the help in the locks was far from helpful, a little more knowledge of boating would have been good.
6/29/08 We continued on the Richelieu River to St. Ours Lock and when north of it we tied up and enjoyed the park and explored the whole island including a fish ladder, and we saw fish in it. Our mooring pass covers parks as well. No town here, but a snack bar along the road with very good ice cream. We ran the generator and had showers and cleaned up the kitchen. We are ready for an other day.
6/30/08 We left early in anticipation of a long day. We entered the St. Lawrence Seaway and headed west into a strong current, 1.5knm. and 25 knm. wind in our face. About 30 mins. later I saw a blur and something hit just below the windshield. I thought at first it was a gull but later figured out it was our flag staff and the second looper burgee. The wind must have worked the stainless pipe till it dented and came out. It had a jam nut so the screw could back out. With the wind and the current we made 5 knots when we should have been going 7.5 knots. We made it to Montreal and spent 2 days, including their Canada Day there.
7/2/08 We proceeded on westward through the St. Lambert and St. Catherines Locks on the St. Lawrence Seaway to St. Anne De Belvue Lock on the Ottawa River. We met 2 different loopers in the locks today. Wow!!!! some of the ships on the St. Lawrence are big when you are 100 ft. from them and no place to get away. The next couple of weeks will be much smaller water and lots of locks. We reprovisioned today as the market was 7 blocks away.
7/3/08 Woke up to rain at 5:30 and closed the windows. We stayed put as it really had strong winds to.
7/4/08 Sunny and pleasant. Made the first lock and away we go. 2 locks today, St Anne de Belvue and Carillon. Carillon is 65 ft. lift and has a lift type gate on the bottom. What an experience, We were so low in the concrete that we lost satellite signal. We took pictures during the process. 72,000,000 litres to fill the chamber. We continued to Hawksbury , Ont. and anchored at a free dock with 15 amp. electric. It was an interesting docking in at least 2 kn current, but we had no problems and this morning we pulled away like pros. Lots of practice helps.
7/5/08 Got started at 7:00 and stopped to see the worlds largest log building at Montebello, Quebec. I was not as impressed as I thought I would be. 10,000 logs shipped in from British Columbia to build it. Money wasn’t and object and the logs were straight and uniform. We continued on to just East on Ontario and will anchor out tonight and get to Ottawa for the first locking of the flight of eight if there are not to many waiting there. At any rate we should get through tomorrow. We will be over 800 nautical miles into the trip when we are through the locks tomorrow.
7/6/08 We were at The bottom of the steps of eight in Ottawa for the first locking at 8:30. We finished locking thru at 11:00 and tied to the wall downtown. No services. Very tired from the ordeal. Went to explore the city. Very Hot.
7/7/08 Did the changing of the guard and the parliament tour and By market. We shopped and just enjoyed the people we have been traveling with.
7/8/08 Left Ottawa and stopped at Dowes Lake to pump out, their primary pump was broken and they brought out a portable gas powered pump and that wouldn’t start. I ask them to check the spark plug and they did not have tools. I got a wrench and plug was fouled. They found another plug and it started. I got a free pump out for fixing the pump. We stopped at Black Rapids and stopped for the night. We had done 5 locks for the day
7/9/08 Started early and went through 4 locks and stayed at Buritts Rapids for the night. There was a really old Chris Craft there 1936, It was beautiful.
7/10/08 Started at 8:00 in the morning and did 11 locks and had 2 bridge delays totaling 2.25 hours. We ended up in Smiths Falls home of Hershey Chocolate. We stayed here 7/11/08 as well. They had a Walmart and Canadian Tire and a big Grocery store. I changed oil and resupplied the boat. Lots of walking. Lois did laundry too. We purchased a little cart like old people use to shop as our arms seem to be getting longer from carrying heavy items we buy.
7/12/08 We headed out and did 8 locks today. We stayed at Davis Locks for the night. There were kayakers traveling with us from New York State and they stayed at the night too. They were having a good time in spite of the fact that it rained some.
7/13/08 We did 11 locks today and we finished the Rideau System and stopped at Kingston, Ont. it was very windy in the marina which is on the Lake. Upon arrival we found that we had lost 12 volt power to the refrigerator and things had thawed out. When we plugged in it worked on 120 volt AC. After much searching we found a fuse had blown and replacing it solved the problem. We spent time exploring the town. We took a bus tour as well. We found a really great ice cream store. White Mountain Ice Cream just like the churns.
7/14/08 More of the same here in Kingston. We now have more 12 volt problems. The items on the main panel are dead. Can’t find the problem. Have mechanic coming tomorrow to find the problem.
7/15/08 I knew it was something I did when I was fixing the first problem but I was so frustrated I could not find it. A large plug type connector with 8 wires in it had partially came apart and the mechanic found it in about 20 mins. I only had to pay the minimum service charge of 75.00 as he was already in the marina working on an other boat. All is well again.
7/16/08 We left Kingston this morning after stopping to pump out. While we were there a Canadian Coast Guard Boat 47 foot was refueling after being out on a search and rescue mission for a man who fell of his sailboat. They found him and returned him to his wife and boat. The part that really made us laugh is that the 4 crew members didn’t have the same uniforms on. Matter of fact the person operating the vessel was in civilian clothing with the exception of his life vest. We ran a bit over 8 hours today and ore in Belleville, Ont. We should be in Trenton, Ont by lunch tomorrow. We are in a marina tonight as it was hot today and need the break. We have Wi-Fi and I am tying to catch up on e-mail and bloging as best I can.

Kingston, ON Canada

This is Barb (one of Bob and Lois's daughters). Just thought I'd let everyone know I heard from Dad tonight. They are in Kingston, Ontario on Lake Ontario for a few days, then on to Trenton for a night or two.

They are getting lots of exercise climbing up and down the stair/ladder as they go through the locks. They went through 11 locks today. Dad says Mom is already asleep. He just wanted to call while they had cellular service. They've been without for the last few days.

He said it was neat to travel through the upper part of Lake Ontario and see some places he had driven by years ago when on fishing trips with his parents and later w/ his brother-in-law. They also saw sea planes docked outside of people's homes!

After 2 days in Kingston, they will travel up the Trent-Severn River and go through some neat devices that will transport them from one part of the river to another as they make their way to Lake Huron in 2 weeks or so. They will not have cellular service during most, if not all, of this time.

Some of the devices are locks that are hydraulic, one is a lift system that's called the Big Chute Marine Railway.

Arriving at the Big Chute is like driving into a wide slip. There are wide hoist straps under your boat just like the ones used to take boats out at the marina for dry docking. You shut off engines, they position the straps, and you are lifted out of the water. You go up and over a road below, then go down a long incline to the water. For pictures: http://www.edto.net/photo_bigchute.htm. This person took some awesome photos of this unique boat transport.

Then, they will push on to Lake Michigan by September 1.

Sounds like a great adventure!

Greetings from Ottawa

Greetings from Ottawa. Today we traveled trough 8 locks which raised us 90 feet. see the link below. We are docked 2 blocks from Parliment in Ottawa. Which is quite a complex of very old buildings. The dock is free and without electric. We have run the generator since arriving at 11am as it is 90 degrees and Humid. We visited parliment and took photos from the Peace Tower. It is very awe inspiring to be at the base of these 8 locks, look up and think, "We're going to the top of this hill in a boat!" Tomorrow if we have good weather we will head west on the Rdeau Canal and Lock System of 48 Locks and into Lake Ontario through the Trent Severn. A total of 125 miles. Thanks to all who are keeping track of our progress. We are well. And becoming more fit as we go up and down the ladder (16 times minimum today as we went through all those locks), and do sightseeing on foot.
http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&q=Ottawa,+ON&ll=45.424758,-75.697013&spn=0.005135,0.009356&t=h&z=17

(This post is written by daughter Becky after a short 20 min talk on Mon eve)